Hillcats trounced in series finale

The Lynchburg Hillcats could not complete a sweep of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, dropping Tuesday’s finale, 10-2, at City Stadium.  Trent Mose sand Shawn McGill notched RBI hits in the loss.  The Pelicans erupted for 16 hits off of Hillcats pitching after just nine in the first two games of the series combined.

After both teams scored a collective seven runs in the first two games of the series, the teams traded runs in the first inning on Tuesday.  Myrtle Beach (19-11, 59-40) scored on a Trever Adams double.  The Hillcats (10-18, 46-51) responded with a Trent Moses RBI-single to tie the game.

Then the Pelicans took over, scoring at least a run in four of the next five innings while Myrtle Beach starter, Alec Asher allowed just one more hit, retiring the final eleven batters he faced and 14 of his last 15 hitters.  Asher (7-6) gave up one run on three hits with a walk and four strikeouts in five innings.

Edwin Garcia drove in a run in the second with an RBI-groundout to put Myrtle Beach up, then a three-run third inning chased Hillcats starter A.J. Holland from the game.

Eight hitters came to the plate in the third for the Pelicans.  Three walks and a costly error in the frame allowed the three unearned runs to score on just one Pelicans hit in the inning.  Holland (4-7) finished with a line of five runs, two earned, on five hits and four walks with three strikeouts in three innings of work.

The Hillcats bullpen combo of Wilson Rivera and Brandon Cunniff didn’t fare much better, allowing a combined five runs through the final six innings.  Rivera gave up a monstrous two-run home run to Drew Robinson in the sixth.

Shawn McGill, who entered the game as a defensive replacement, singled home Will Skinner in the seventh inning to get a run back, but the Pelicans would coast to a victory and avoid the sweep.

The Hillcats look to get back to the winning ways Wednesday at 7:05pm when they begin a four-game series with the Potomac Nationals at City Stadium.  Gates open at 6pm and it’s a WLNI Win-Win Wednesday; fans will receive a ticket to our next Wednesday home game (8/14) when they enter the ballpark.  Greg Ross (6-4, 3.45) gets the nod for Lynchburg against Matt Purke (0-3, 9.00) for the P-Nats.  If you can’t get to the stadium, join Erik Wilson and Jake Levy for the broadcast beginning with the Hillcats On-Deck Show, powered by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg, going live at 6:40pm on 97.9 FM The Planet and lynchburg-hillcats.com